Poe’s Short Stories

Edgar Allan Poe

“The Black Cat” (1843)

“The Purloined Letter” (1844), page 2

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Summary

In a small room in Paris, an unnamed narrator, who also
narrates “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” sits quietly with his
friend, C. Auguste Dupin. He ponders the murders in the Rue Morgue, which
Dupin solved in that story. Monsieur G——, the prefect of the Paris
police, arrives, having decided to consult Dupin again. The prefect
presents a case that is almost too simple: a letter has been taken
from the royal apartments. The police know who has taken it: the
Minister D——, an important government official. According to the
prefect, a young lady possessed the letter, which contains information
that could harm a powerful individual. When the young lady was first
reading the letter, the man whom it concerned came into the royal
apartments. Not wanting to arouse his suspicion, she put it down
on a table next to her. The sinister Minister D—— then walked in
and noted the letter’s contents. Quickly grasping the seriousness
of the situation, he produced a letter of his own that resembled
the important letter. He left his own letter next to the original one
as he began to talk of Parisian affairs. Finally, as he prepared
to leave the apartment, he purposely retrieved the lady’s letter
in place of his own. Now, the prefect explains, the Minister D——
possesses a great deal of power over the lady.

Dupin asks whether the police have searched the Minister’s
residence, arguing that since the power of the letter derives from
its being readily available, it must be in his apartment. The prefect responds
that they have searched the Minister’s residence but have not located
the letter. He recounts the search procedure, during which the police
systematically searched every inch of the hotel. In addition, the
letter could not be hidden on the Minister’s body because the police
have searched him as well. The prefect mentions that he is willing
to search long and hard because the reward offered in the case is
so generous. Upon Dupin’s request, the prefect reads him a physical
description of the letter. Dupin suggests that the police search
again.

One month later, Dupin and the narrator are again sitting together
when the prefect visits. The prefect admits that he cannot find
the letter, even though the reward has increased. The prefect says
that he will pay 50,000 francs to anyone
who obtains the letter for him. Dupin tells him to write a check
for that amount on the spot. Upon receipt of the check, Dupin hands
over the letter. The prefect rushes off to return it to its rightful
owner, and Dupin explains how he obtained the letter.

Dupin admits that the police are skilled investigators
according to their own principles. He explains this remark by describing
a young boy playing “even and odd.” In this game, each player must guess
whether the number of things (usually toys) held by another player
is even or odd. If the guesser is right, he gets one of the toys. If
he is wrong, he loses a toy of his own. The boy whom Dupin describes
plays the game well because he bases his guesses on the knowledge
of his opponent. When he faces difficulty, he imitates the facial
expression of his opponent, as though to understand what he thinks
and feels. With this knowledge, he often guesses correctly. Dupin
argues that the Paris police do not use this strategy and therefore
could not find the letter: the police think only to look for a letter in
places where they themselves might hide it.

Dupin argues that the Minister D—— is intelligent enough
not to hide the letter in the nooks and crannies of his apartment—exactly where
the police first investigate. He describes to the narrator a game
of puzzles in which one player finds a name on a map and tells the
other player to find it as well. Amateurs, says Dupin, pick the names
with the smallest letters. According to Dupin’s logic, the hardest
names to find are actually those that stretch broadly across the
map because they are so obvious.

With this game in mind, Dupin recounts the visit he made
to the Minister’s apartment. After surveying the Minister’s residence, Dupin
notices a group of visiting cards hanging from the mantelpiece.
A letter accompanies them. It has a different exterior than that
previously described by the prefect, but Dupin also observes that
the letter appears to have been folded back on itself. He becomes
sure that it is the stolen document. In order to create a reason
for returning to the apartment, he purposely leaves behind his snuffbox.
When he goes back the next morning to retrieve it, he also arranges
for someone to make a commotion outside the window while he is in
the apartment. When the Minister rushes to the window to investigate
the noise, Dupin replaces the stolen letter with a fake. He justifies
his decision to leave behind another letter by predicting that the
Minister will embarrass himself when he acts in reliance upon the
letter he falsely believes he still possesses. Dupin remarks that
the Minister once wronged him in Vienna and that he has pledged
not to forget the insult. Inside the fake letter, then, Dupin inscribes,
a French poem that translates into English, “So baneful a scheme,
if not worthy of Atreus, is worthy of Thyestes.”